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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24723502">Chicago, Michigan</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeSilverheart/pseuds/HopeSilverheart'>HopeSilverheart</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alec Lightwood Is So Done, Alec Lightwood Loves Magnus Bane, Crack, Established Relationship, Fluff, Humour, Idiots in Love, M/M, Magnus Bane is a Little Shit, Married Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Post-Canon</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:55:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,704</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24723502</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/HopeSilverheart/pseuds/HopeSilverheart</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It wasn’t that Magnus lied, exactly, but he was a big believer in telling stories the way he remembered them, rather than the way they had actually happened. So Alec always listened to his tales with a healthy amount of suspicion and common sense. Some of the things he said sounded almost like the truth, but others were a little too… Wild.</p>
<p>“A mission in Chicago? Why didn’t you tell me you were going to Michigan, darling, I would have freed up my schedule and come along.”</p>
<p>Clearly, this counted as one of the ‘other’ stories.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>121</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Chicago, Michigan</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skylar102/gifts">Skylar102</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>For Morgan, I hope Fake Chicago is a nice place to live (;</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Alec loved his husband more than he loved anyone else. Magnus was the love of his life, his light, the man who had saved him from himself, so on and so forth. Alec trusted him with his heart and soul. However he, more than anyone, knew that Magnus tended to exaggerate things.</p>
<p>It wasn’t that he lied, exactly, but he was a big believer in telling stories the way he remembered them, rather than the way they had actually happened. So Alec always listened to his tales with a healthy amount of suspicion and common sense. Some of the things he said sounded almost like the truth, but others were a little too… Wild.</p>
<p>“A mission in Chicago? Why didn’t you tell me you were going to Michigan, darling, I would have freed up my schedule and come along.”</p>
<p>Clearly, <em>this</em> counted as one of the ‘other’ stories.</p>
<p>“I’m not going to Michigan, Magnus,” Alec rolled his eyes. “Chicago is in Illinois, and I promise you that state isn’t half as interesting as whatever memories you have of it undoubtedly are. Besides, this is just a routine mission and a meeting with the Institute Heads; you’d get bored.”</p>
<p>“Well, whilst I would usually argue that nothing is boring when you’re around, I’ll have to remind you of that later,” Magnus huffed, shaking his head sadly at Alec. “Alexander, who on earth told you that Chicago was in Illinois, of all places? Most Americans don’t even remember that state when they’re asked to place it on a map.”</p>
<p>“What do you mean, who told me?” Alec chuckled disbelievingly. Magnus only raised his eyebrows at him, clearly waiting for an answer. “Oh for heaven’s sake, I don’t know, my professors, maybe? My parents, my friends, Google…”</p>
<p>“Sometimes I forget what the modern world has come to,” Magnus sighed dramatically, gesturing for Alec to join him on the couch. The shadowhunter glanced at their bedroom longingly before giving in and taking a seat next to his husband. “You have to understand, darling, that most of what you’re taught today is either a blatant lie or a truth that’s been distorted over and over again with time.”</p>
<p>Alec closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, knowing he would have to stay as patient as possible if he didn’t want to offend Magnus. However, he’d had a long day and really didn’t want to get into a fight over the location of Chicago. Especially since he knew <em>exactly</em> where the damned city was, big bean and tall buildings and everything included.</p>
<p>“So what? You’re going to tell me I don’t actually live in New York City?” Alec asked indulgently. “Because I would be devastated to find out my entire life has been a sham, Magnus.”</p>
<p>“Darling, of course you live in New York City,” Magnus scoffed. “But our lovely home and Chicago are two very – <em>very</em> – different places. Mud City has nothing on the Big Apple. The fact that you seem to think it’s in Illinois, of all places, only further proves my point. Chicago has come a long way from what it used to be, and not in a good sense.”</p>
<p>Alec knew he had two options and a choice to make. The easiest thing to do would be to agree with Magnus so his husband would let him go to bed in peace. The other option would be to disagree with him – because there was no way he was about to buy his husband’s story just like that – and get dragged into an hour-long debate about the origin of Chicago or whatever nonsense Magnus had come up with.</p>
<p>“See, I might believe you,” Alec started, pouring himself a glass of water from the pitcher they kept on the coffee table at all times. “If not for the fact that everybody else believes I’m going to be visiting Illinois this week-end. So tell me, what grand scheme was put in place that made everyone in the world believe Chicago was in Illinois?”</p>
<p>“That might have been my fault,” Magnus winced, waving his whiskey around animatedly. “Well, I had accomplices, of course, but I’m probably the one who came up with the plan in the first place. See, there’s really not much separating Illinois and Michigan from each other, so the confusion is understandable, especially when a trio of warlocks get involved.”</p>
<p>“Magnus, there’s a lake and a state between Chicago and Michigan,” Alec pointed out, frowning in thought for a moment. “Well, if you consider Ohio a state which, granted, is highly debatable.”</p>
<p>“Alexander, I’ll have you know there’s either a lake <em>or </em>a state between Illinois and Michigan,” Magnus tutted. “And once again, I’m a warlock. I can portal us all the way to Paris; do you really think an hour-long boat ride is a problem for me?”</p>
<p>Right. Sometimes, Alec forgot his husband had a few more resources at hand than he did. Still, if Magnus thought Alec was going to buy this ridiculous notion of Chicago not actually being in Illinois, he had another thing coming for him. Alec was willing to do a lot for his husband but listen to his extravagant lies wasn’t one of them.</p>
<p>“So where am I going, if not Chicago?” He smirked. “Because I can assure you the Institute I’m visiting is in Illinois, not Michigan. And I’m almost certain the Head there called his city Chicago. Clearly, there’s something I’m missing here, so enlighten me.”</p>
<p>“Gladly,” Magnus grinned, throwing an arm around the back of the couch and angling himself towards Alec. “The city you’re visiting is undoubtedly called Chicago, but it’s nothing more than a fraud. A fake city put in place once the population couldn’t handle their own land. From what I remember, there were portals, faeries, plenty of alcoholic beverages, and a bridge involved.”</p>
<p>Alec’s eyes widened as he dissected Magnus’ words.</p>
<p>“Are you telling me someone tried to <em>move</em> Chicago?”</p>
<p>“Well yes,” Magnus laughed. “Catarina, Ragnor and I, to be precise. The mundanes were desecrating the true Chicago and in 1871, they went too far. They burned part of the city down and ruined countless Downworld hot-spots, so the community asked for the Warlock Council’s help. They sent a small group of us to the city, made us transport the mundanes somewhere else, and then asked us to rebuild Chicago from the ground up. Whilst the mundanes were creating a new city and calling it ‘Chicago’, we were reconstructing the true town and making it into a downworlders-only area.”</p>
<p>There was no way Magnus was telling the truth. Absolutely none. Manipulating mundanes like that couldn’t be legal, and it shouldn’t even be possible. Besides, Magnus was much too kind to trick an entire population like that, no matter how much he might have liked the ‘true Chicago’.</p>
<p>“So you’re telling me there are two Chicagos?” Alec repeated questioningly, trying to wrap his head around whatever point Magnus was trying to make. Oftentimes, his stories had some sort of moral to them, but he couldn’t figure out what the reason behind this one was.</p>
<p>“Of course not,” Magnus chuckled. “I’m telling you there’s one, true, Downworld-ruled Chicago, and then a mundane city that happens to have the same name as its better version across the lake. The poor mundanes must think they’ve got the real deal when really, they don’t know the half of it. Chicago is one of the most wonderful places in the world, and that city in Illinois is… Well, I’m sure it’s great, but it’s not Chicago.”</p>
<p>“Right,” Alec drawled. “It doesn’t change the fact that I’ll be visiting the Chicago Institute later this week. Maybe I should stop on the other side of Lake Michigan and take a look at this infamous city you speak of. It’s not like I don’t have the time for a quick bout of tourism.”</p>
<p>“You could <em>try</em> to visit it,” Magnus shrugged. “However, shadowhunters aren’t exactly allowed in there. Hence why I wish you had told me about this trip earlier. I would have arranged something and taken you to Chicago, the City of Magic and Mischief, and shown you what fun really looked like. Later, perhaps.”</p>
<p>“Yes, later,” Alec snorted. “When you’ve had the time to concoct some strange plan with your friends and create a city right where you told me I would find it. As much as I want to agree with you on this, Magnus, I just can’t. My siblings would call me crazy if I so much as breathed a word of this to them. Your stories are amazing, but maybe try going for something a little more believable next time, alright?”</p>
<p>Magnus pouted and crossed his arms over his chest, narrowing his eyes at Alec in a way that usually made the shadowhunter cave. Unfortunately, this tale had gone a little bit too far. Clearly, his husband realised he wasn’t going to convince Alec to believe him. Magnus threw his hands in the air, mumbled something about ignorant fools, and stormed out of the room.</p>
<p>Alec shook his head fondly at the warlock’s antics, wondering if Magnus had maybe had a bit too much to drink one night and convinced himself he had created a Downworld Chicago. Or transported mundanes across the lake or <em>whatever</em>.</p>
<p>Before he could join his husband in their bedroom, Alec’s eyes landed on his phone, and an idea sparked inside his mind. He smirked to himself and dialled a number he had memorised months ago in case of emergency.</p>
<p>“<em>Alec!</em>” Catarina’s voice echoed at the other end of the line. “<em>Is everything alright? Is Magnus okay?”</em></p>
<p>“Everything’s fine, Catarina,” Alec reassured her, fidgeting for a second before sighing deeply and getting straight to the point. “Tell me, what do you know about Chicago?”</p>
<p>There was a moment of silence, a second when Alec thought Catarina was going to burst out laughing and tell him a story about a drunk Magnus or a foolish dream or a misunderstood memory that Magnus had made up. However, the next words out of Cat’s mouth were almost enough to make him hang up on her right there and then, friendship and goodbyes be damned.</p>
<p>“<em>Chicago… Chicago, Michigan?”</em></p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Heya guys! Thank you so much for reading! This isn't beta'ed, so excuse any mistakes. This is all based on complete facts, Magnus is the one who created Chicago and Chicago, Illinois is all a lie. I hope you all enjoyed this little bit of humour!</p>
<p>Love, Junie. </p>
<p>(find me on tumblr @hopesilverheart)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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